Soil Contaminants
Common mineral soil contaminants include arsenic, barium, cadmium, copper, mercury, lead, and zinc.
Lead is a particularly dangerous soil component. The following table from the University of Minnesota categorizes typical soil concentration levels and their associated health risks.
| Lead Level | Extracted lead (ppm) | Estimated total lead (ppm) |
|---|---|---|
| Low | <43 | <500 |
| Medium | 43-126 | 500-1000 |
| High | 126-480 | 1000-3000 |
| Very high | >480 | >3000 |
- Six gardening practices to reduce the lead risk
- Locate gardens away from old painted structures and heavily traveled roads
- Give planting preferences to fruiting crops (tomatoes, squash, peas, sunflowers, corn, etc.)
- Incorporate organic materials such as finished compost, humus, and peat moss
- Lime soil as recommended by soil test (pH 6.5 minimizes lead availability)
- Discard old and outer leaves before eating leafy vegetables; peel root crops; wash all produce
- Keep dust to a minimum by maintaining a mulched and/or moist soil surface
Read more about this topic: Soil Test
Famous quotes containing the word soil:
“If the accumulated wealth of the past generations is thus tainted,—no matter how much of it is offered to us,—we must begin to consider if it were not the nobler part to renounce it, and to put ourselves in primary relations with the soil and nature, and abstaining from whatever is dishonest and unclean, to take each of us bravely his part, with his own hands, in the manual labor of the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)